4,200 a year fined in capital over cannabis

More than 4,200 people in London have been given £80 on-the-spot fines for possessing cannabis in the first year of a government crackdown on drugs.

Figures released by the Met show that nearly half those hit by the penalty handed over the money quickly, boosting public funds by tens of thousands of pounds.

But the other 55 per cent of offenders failed to pay within the 21-day deadline required by the law, forcing police to pass their debts to magistrates' courts to enforce.

The additional cost of collecting the money this way means that much, if not all, of the potential revenue from those fines is likely to be wiped out.

Cannabis was upgraded to a class-B drug in January last year, amid increasing concern about its potential impact on mental health. A three-tier penalty system has been created: a person found with the drug for the first time is given a "cannabis warning", similar to a caution, and those caught a second time are fined £80. A third offence leads to prosecution.

The aim of what the Home Office described as an "escalated enforcement regime" was to avoid clogging up the courts with occasional users. Heavier penalties attached to class-B status — which include up to five years in prison for possession — would be reserved for persistent users.

The Met figures were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. They show police caught offenders with cannabis 53,138 times in the 12 months to the end of January this year.

Of these cases, 37,562 resulted in a warning. Another 4,206 were given an £80 fine, while 7,567 third-time offenders were prosecuted.

Of those charged with cannabis possession, 1,748 were aged between 10 and 17.